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Dev Manny #1
Superliminal
After years of helping people who barely knew how to generate a 2048-bit encryption key, I should’ve been happy to get a client with a real problem. But when it starts with me being knocked unconscious and kidnapped, you understand if I’m grumpy. Still, a missing insane software designer is a magnet to my mental I’m an Information Technology Private Investigator and I love a high-tech problem. My only worry is that unlike my usual cases, this one might just kill me.
I’m not the best information technology private investigator. There are others better than me, others more experienced, others with better stories to tell.
But I haven’t met them yet.
I’m not the best information technology private investigator. There are others better than me, others more experienced, others with better stories to tell.
But I haven’t met them yet.
163 pages, Kindle Edition
4 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Andy Kaiser
7 books10 followersAndy Kaiser is the author of some books you'll find here. He’s also appeared in high-profile tech sites like Gizmodo, Slashdot, Boing Boing and Techdirt, and in geek-friendly magazines like 2600 Magazine and Skeptic.
Andy Kaiser’s day job is for Kaiser IT Group, an IT consultancy in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.
Andy Kaiser’s day job is for Kaiser IT Group, an IT consultancy in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 27, 2018
I was expecting something else.
I was looking for the "Red Queen" series that appeared on 2600, but overall the story was very well put together.
I was looking for the "Red Queen" series that appeared on 2600, but overall the story was very well put together.
September 22, 2011
What a fun twist on the private eye genre! This book was a fun experience to read. Take Humphrey Bogart and make him tech-savvy... well, you get the idea :) Smooth humor, enough twists to keep your interest, and a very likeable protagonist. Nice because you don't have to be tech savvy or a computer genius to appreciate this mystery. With the exception of the technology, it reminded me of an old fashioned private eye tale.
I highly reccommend this book for a fun, quick read.
Great job Andy Kaiser!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free through Goodreads. (Thank you Andy Kaiser for the opportunity to read this book). I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
I highly reccommend this book for a fun, quick read.
Great job Andy Kaiser!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free through Goodreads. (Thank you Andy Kaiser for the opportunity to read this book). I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
September 10, 2023
Good Read!!
February 7, 2012
Superliminal is the first book in a (hopefully successful) series of stories about Dev Manny, an Information Technology Private Investigator (ITPI).
Manny is called in by local law enforcement to help uncover an explanation for the trashing of some computer equipment. A VHS tape is discovered in a PO Box and reveals a psychotic manifesto from the missing owner of the computer gear. He rants about a virus whose release could lead to horrific consequence for humanity. The police need Manny to get to the bottom of this. Is the guy a crank or a terrorist?
Don't let the IT part throw you. While Kaiser is clearly credentialed to set a detective loose in the world of IT, he doesn't beat his reader over the head with it. If you don't know http from ftp or a router from a server, it won't impede your ability to enjoy the story. For IT geeks though, Kaiser offers them an access port into mystery fiction (much like Rob Steiner did with Aspect of Pale Night).
I wasn't sure what approach Kaiser was going to take here: satire or thriller. It turns out he does a bit of both. When the threat turns real, Kaiser dials up the tension. Despite going for a bit of Sam Spade, Manny's self-deprecating and wry sense of humor defuses the situation and his ego before either get too serious.
Kaiser really shines when Manny is "under duress" (I don't want to spoil the story). Manny is forced to complete a vital part of his investigation while suffering through the equivalent of a bad acid trip. The details of Manny's experience are exceptionally well written and the poor guy lapses into a depression brought on by an existential crisis. It's as if he's living through a Descartes' philosophical proof. It was the highlight of the novel for me. After dropping a couple Lovecraft and Dalí references along the way, I was sold.
As for the technicals, the book is tightly edited. The pacing is fast and Kaiser's writing is tight and efficient. Only a couple of typos and one formatting error got through. By the time you pick up the book, these may already be removed.
Andy Kaiser's Superliminal is a wonderful ITPI mystery. It is a fast-paced story driven by a protagonist whose IT knowledge is matched only by his wry sense of humor. The IT spin on detective fiction is akin to what Stross's Laundry series does for spy thrillers, though without the Lovecraftian horrors. Highly recommended.
Manny is called in by local law enforcement to help uncover an explanation for the trashing of some computer equipment. A VHS tape is discovered in a PO Box and reveals a psychotic manifesto from the missing owner of the computer gear. He rants about a virus whose release could lead to horrific consequence for humanity. The police need Manny to get to the bottom of this. Is the guy a crank or a terrorist?
Don't let the IT part throw you. While Kaiser is clearly credentialed to set a detective loose in the world of IT, he doesn't beat his reader over the head with it. If you don't know http from ftp or a router from a server, it won't impede your ability to enjoy the story. For IT geeks though, Kaiser offers them an access port into mystery fiction (much like Rob Steiner did with Aspect of Pale Night).
I wasn't sure what approach Kaiser was going to take here: satire or thriller. It turns out he does a bit of both. When the threat turns real, Kaiser dials up the tension. Despite going for a bit of Sam Spade, Manny's self-deprecating and wry sense of humor defuses the situation and his ego before either get too serious.
Kaiser really shines when Manny is "under duress" (I don't want to spoil the story). Manny is forced to complete a vital part of his investigation while suffering through the equivalent of a bad acid trip. The details of Manny's experience are exceptionally well written and the poor guy lapses into a depression brought on by an existential crisis. It's as if he's living through a Descartes' philosophical proof. It was the highlight of the novel for me. After dropping a couple Lovecraft and Dalí references along the way, I was sold.
As for the technicals, the book is tightly edited. The pacing is fast and Kaiser's writing is tight and efficient. Only a couple of typos and one formatting error got through. By the time you pick up the book, these may already be removed.
Andy Kaiser's Superliminal is a wonderful ITPI mystery. It is a fast-paced story driven by a protagonist whose IT knowledge is matched only by his wry sense of humor. The IT spin on detective fiction is akin to what Stross's Laundry series does for spy thrillers, though without the Lovecraftian horrors. Highly recommended.
June 5, 2013
This book was acutely painful to read; I had a bad feeling in the first few pages, and by the third chapter I knew it was easily the worst attempt at a crime pulp I've ever read. Imagine every private eye cliche, every terrible one-liner, and then give them a nerdy twist and a completely unlikeable protagonist.
Superliminal rips the danger from Snow Crash and seems to take the rest from the Dresden Files, particularly the rather bad first one; smarmy arrogance, terrible jokes, terrible car, absurdly skilled Marty Sue main character, and an over-reliance on tropes as crutches for bad writing. Even the first Harry Dresden novel had far more deftness and imagination than this; all we have here is a fill-in-the-blank pulp while Dev runs rings around the Keystone Kops that practically worship him. No attempt is ever made at creating a remotely human or realistic character, creating striking wordplay, or adding any insight into the world, real or fictional.
Terrible Quotes:
"A good thing, because Lee's next words put a floating point on my integer variable. In layman's terms, I was creeped out."
"There was a pattern to the destroyed devices. I could almost taste it. Or maybe at was my craving for Italian."
"This particular late night coffee joint happened to be filled with people who had nothing better to do at night than chain-smoke and talk to friends. You might think it contradictory - having both an active social life and a fatal habit - but it happens more often than you think."
There is one passage of a few pages that really amazed me, however. When the virus finally hits Dev, the description of seeing the world down to the biological systems and then the molecular level was actually quite engaging and fresh. If the rest had brought any of that originality, it could have been a good book.
Superliminal rips the danger from Snow Crash and seems to take the rest from the Dresden Files, particularly the rather bad first one; smarmy arrogance, terrible jokes, terrible car, absurdly skilled Marty Sue main character, and an over-reliance on tropes as crutches for bad writing. Even the first Harry Dresden novel had far more deftness and imagination than this; all we have here is a fill-in-the-blank pulp while Dev runs rings around the Keystone Kops that practically worship him. No attempt is ever made at creating a remotely human or realistic character, creating striking wordplay, or adding any insight into the world, real or fictional.
Terrible Quotes:
"A good thing, because Lee's next words put a floating point on my integer variable. In layman's terms, I was creeped out."
"There was a pattern to the destroyed devices. I could almost taste it. Or maybe at was my craving for Italian."
"This particular late night coffee joint happened to be filled with people who had nothing better to do at night than chain-smoke and talk to friends. You might think it contradictory - having both an active social life and a fatal habit - but it happens more often than you think."
There is one passage of a few pages that really amazed me, however. When the virus finally hits Dev, the description of seeing the world down to the biological systems and then the molecular level was actually quite engaging and fresh. If the rest had brought any of that originality, it could have been a good book.
January 9, 2017
This book was a disappointment to me. Maybe if I were more tech savvy it would have worked better. I liked the idea . .. Dev Manning is an Information Technology Private Investigator. His takes a job assisting the police in trying to track down and stop a computer virus that has somehow managed to jump to humans. That part was interesting. What I didn't like was the narrator. He threw around a lot of tech terms; many references I just didn't get. For example he equates the strength of a building to be like the half-life of Carbon-14. Not knowing how much the half-life of Carbon-14 was the reference went right over my head. True I could have looked it up but that would have been too distracting. I liked the plot itself but the narrator seems very full of himself and his tech knowledge and when he uses the terms he never explains them to the reader who might not be as technologically advanced as he is. Personally, I felt as if I were being talked down to. If you are an IT specialist I am sure you would enjoy this book though.
October 25, 2015
I loved this book.
It was sublime, no wait, it was superlime.
No, it was just hilariously funny, interesting, witty, and highly entertaining.
With the premise of a computer virus that can spread to humans, I thought there was no way to make that plot work in a believable way. I would have still enjoyed it anyway, but amazingly, the author made it work. Dev Manny the I.T.P.I. - Information Technology Private Investigator - working with the police played the part of an IT-enabled PI very well.
The IT side of the story is great for geeky readers, and non-geeky readers can still enjoy the story without knowing what Active Directory and a Storage Area Network are. Just roll with it like you do know what they are... It's just that the jokes are funnier if you are in the clue, but trust me, they are funny so go ahead and laugh.
Well written, well told, a fun read.
It was sublime, no wait, it was superlime.
No, it was just hilariously funny, interesting, witty, and highly entertaining.
With the premise of a computer virus that can spread to humans, I thought there was no way to make that plot work in a believable way. I would have still enjoyed it anyway, but amazingly, the author made it work. Dev Manny the I.T.P.I. - Information Technology Private Investigator - working with the police played the part of an IT-enabled PI very well.
The IT side of the story is great for geeky readers, and non-geeky readers can still enjoy the story without knowing what Active Directory and a Storage Area Network are. Just roll with it like you do know what they are... It's just that the jokes are funnier if you are in the clue, but trust me, they are funny so go ahead and laugh.
Well written, well told, a fun read.
October 30, 2011
Note: This book was received through a giveaway.
I liked the general concept of the book. The details are a bit wishy washy but I'm probably more picky than others because I write software as a job. If you're going for suspension of disbelief anyway then it's fine. The plot reminds me a lot of Snowcrash (or at least what I remember about Snowcrash).
I liked the general concept of the book. The details are a bit wishy washy but I'm probably more picky than others because I write software as a job. If you're going for suspension of disbelief anyway then it's fine. The plot reminds me a lot of Snowcrash (or at least what I remember about Snowcrash).
November 21, 2016
This was a fun read; a technological mystery, some witty lines, an engaging protagonist (an ITPI), and an interesting (if somewhat fantastical) story line, but the ending felt a bit rushed and unsatisfying. Apparently the first in a series, I would read others, but I won't go out if my way to hunt them down.
October 18, 2011
Thank you Goodreads for the advance copy! I loved this book. It's funny, witty, and has plenty of character. This is a back pocket book (put it in your back pocket, you'll want to take it everywhere), easy read. I finished it in one day.Who knew computers could have mystery all their own!
July 9, 2012
I admit it, there were many moments where I LOL'd. Some elements of the story were too fantastic & a bit reaching and the ending was rushed... but as a general rule, I enjoyed the story. As a programmer by day, I admittedly chuckled over some of the ideas, but I still liked it. :)
May 17, 2020
This is one of them kind of books that was not great but was not the worst either. I felt with a little more polishing this would be a better book. The ending seemed rushed to me. The story line was different which is good but was it believable not sure.
August 12, 2014
Geek detective Dev and a really scary virus. Funny in a naive kind of way.
December 21, 2011
This book was so much fun to read. The detective is funny, charming and smart as hell. There were some really good "oh my gosh" moments, and this author is fantastic. I am definetly a fan.
July 13, 2012
Geeky, meh. Not a bad read, lots of IT in-jokes (including the heroes name). I read the entire thing, so the story was ok... but it's not a *must have* book...
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December 7, 2013False
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews